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1.5 star rating
I've never read a Christopher Golden book before, maybe I'll read another one in the future. To preface my (scathing) review I wanna say I don't think Mr Golden is a crap author, but I know he phoned in this book. It reeks of amateur.
Snowblind is an enormous disappointment. The writing is not particularly descriptive or powerful. The characters were flat and mostly defined by their occupations. Women characters are ridiculously simplistic, ineffectual, pathetic and cringe-worthy. It was a poor decision to grant men all the 'cool' jobs and the heroics. Almost every female character was called or referred to as a bitch, bitching, or bitchy. Clearly a lack of diverse and creative writing, not to mention good taste.
Not sure why the language was so basic in Snowblind. Perhaps the most unforgivable sin was the heavily stilted dialogue, it was completely devoid of realism and life. Oh, wait, the heavily repetitive narration and selection of words might of been the most egregious error. I know there aren't a million ways to describe a snowscape or driving a car, but what's with all the 'strode', 'whipping', 'tamping down' and freezing in place? New scenes explained previous scenes and sentiments. It stank of strung together instalments of a serial novel.
Overall the novel suffered from a desperate lack of clarity and direction. It's riddled with inconsistencies. Baxter's bullet did nada but the cops could blow the monsters away? Nico was a super ghost because why exactly? (also, the italics for Nico's dialogue were missing on page 386). Monsters knocked on a door once to lure Martha to the door then lost the capacity to proactively trick people? Even little things like 'it was mid-afternoon' *turn page* 'it's only quarter past one' made me shake my head.
The ice men were completely underwhelming, ill-defined and constantly reworked for the author's convenience. The criminal duo of Baxter and Franco were pitiful. Only thing that scared me about Snowblind was on page 340, when Keenan folded over a page in his book to mark his place. Not cool, bro.
Was I the only reader that thought there was enormous potential sublimated into gross missed opportunity when the beleaguered townsfolk didn't end up making a last stand at The Vault? Used to be a bank, secure location, provisions, big-ass fireplaces... No? Too obvious?
The printed words ran deeply into the crevice of the spine, making it absurdly hard to read with one hand, never mind the tremendous gaps between words and lines. I'm not accustomed to losing my place on a page on a regular basis, so that was a new and unnecessary experience.
Inspite of my long-winded and frankly berating review, I can recommend Snowblind to a specific subset of folks. If you're stuck in the back of a car in Florida, in the midst of a broiling summer, miserably being shuttled to a vapid vacation spot and need something easy, uncomplicated and cooling to read, give Snowblind a shot.
I've never read a Christopher Golden book before, maybe I'll read another one in the future. To preface my (scathing) review I wanna say I don't think Mr Golden is a crap author, but I know he phoned in this book. It reeks of amateur.
Snowblind is an enormous disappointment. The writing is not particularly descriptive or powerful. The characters were flat and mostly defined by their occupations. Women characters are ridiculously simplistic, ineffectual, pathetic and cringe-worthy. It was a poor decision to grant men all the 'cool' jobs and the heroics. Almost every female character was called or referred to as a bitch, bitching, or bitchy. Clearly a lack of diverse and creative writing, not to mention good taste.
Not sure why the language was so basic in Snowblind. Perhaps the most unforgivable sin was the heavily stilted dialogue, it was completely devoid of realism and life. Oh, wait, the heavily repetitive narration and selection of words might of been the most egregious error. I know there aren't a million ways to describe a snowscape or driving a car, but what's with all the 'strode', 'whipping', 'tamping down' and freezing in place? New scenes explained previous scenes and sentiments. It stank of strung together instalments of a serial novel.
Overall the novel suffered from a desperate lack of clarity and direction. It's riddled with inconsistencies. Baxter's bullet did nada but the cops could blow the monsters away? Nico was a super ghost because why exactly? (also, the italics for Nico's dialogue were missing on page 386). Monsters knocked on a door once to lure Martha to the door then lost the capacity to proactively trick people? Even little things like 'it was mid-afternoon' *turn page* 'it's only quarter past one' made me shake my head.
The ice men were completely underwhelming, ill-defined and constantly reworked for the author's convenience. The criminal duo of Baxter and Franco were pitiful. Only thing that scared me about Snowblind was on page 340, when Keenan folded over a page in his book to mark his place. Not cool, bro.
Was I the only reader that thought there was enormous potential sublimated into gross missed opportunity when the beleaguered townsfolk didn't end up making a last stand at The Vault? Used to be a bank, secure location, provisions, big-ass fireplaces... No? Too obvious?
The printed words ran deeply into the crevice of the spine, making it absurdly hard to read with one hand, never mind the tremendous gaps between words and lines. I'm not accustomed to losing my place on a page on a regular basis, so that was a new and unnecessary experience.
Inspite of my long-winded and frankly berating review, I can recommend Snowblind to a specific subset of folks. If you're stuck in the back of a car in Florida, in the midst of a broiling summer, miserably being shuttled to a vapid vacation spot and need something easy, uncomplicated and cooling to read, give Snowblind a shot.